1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector and a method for making the same, and more particularly to an electrical connector with an improved pedestal for mounting a fusible element and a method for making a contact with such pedestal.
2. Description of Related Art
In high density signal transmission between circuit boards, electrical connectors are often provided with solder balls to be mounted to the circuit boards. U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0264023A1 published on Oct. 22, 2009 discloses such a connector assembly including mateable male and female connectors for being mounted to the circuit boards. The contacts of the male and the female connectors each include a flat mounting portion. In mounting process, solder balls are preliminarily soldered to the flat mounting portion in a first reflowing process. In the following soldering process, such solder balls are finally fused under high temperature to be electrically connected to the circuit boards. It is known that, in preliminarily positioning the solder balls, a reflowing process is less effective than a mechanical assembling process.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,679,709 B2 issued to Takeuchi on Jan. 20, 2004 discloses a connector assembly including a plurality of contacts. Each contact includes a body portion and a pair of arms bent laterally from an edge of the body portion. An opening is formed between the pair of arms for mounting a fusible element for being mounted to circuit boards. The fusible element is offset from the body portion and in the case of solder balls, might not be reliably attached to the contacts. U.S. Pat. No. 7,695,329 issued to Peloza et al. on Apr. 13, 2010, also discloses a similar scheme of placing solder wires, in contrast to solder balls, onto the contact.
Hence, an electrical connector with an improved pedestal for reliably mounting fusible elements and a method for making a contact with such pedestal are desired.